Assassinated!
Newly-crowned WBC Fecarbox jr. middleweight champion Andres “Panda” Pacheco sneaks up on Joseph “Assassin” Brady for knockout win in battle of undefeateds

Ringside report & photos by Chris Cozzone

If you haven’t heard about a fighter named “Panda” from Pueblo, Colo., you soon will . . . .

Last night at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado, for nearly 12 breathtakingly brutal, oftentimes bizarre but unforgettable rounds, unbeaten Andres “Panda” Pacheco uncrowned Albuquerque’s Joseph “Assassin” Brady for the WBC Fecarbox junior middleweight belt.

If the fight had been televised, it would’ve been a candidate for “Fight of the Year.” Instead, the classic war of undefeateds was witnessed by a crowd of but 900 local fight fans who got more than their money’s worth.

In one of the best fights this reporter has ever seen live, the two unbeaten fighters banged away to their hearts’ limits. But at 2:47 of the final round, Pacheco was the last man standing.

While Brady brought a boisterous bunch of fans with him, wearing “Assassin” Mexican-style headbands and chanting their fighter’s name throughout the fight, the Colorado fans showed their allegiance early on by booing the New Mexican fighter upon his entrance and cheering the Colorado fighter. Pacheco’s people—a great many garbed in white T-shirts bearing a Panda bear head on the front and a memorial photo of Pacheco’s father, Pedro, who passed away last year, on the back—outnumbered.

The tone of the fight was established early with Panda on the attack and Brady hitting and moving. Stalking the Assassin and pinning him on the ropes, Panda was able to bang away while Brady, showing quicker moves, hustled quickly away, fighting on the run. Other than launching a brief but effective attack at the end of the round, landing a solid straight left, Brady, typically a slow starter, gave away the first round to Pacheco.

Evading the hunter, Brady had a solid second round, outboxing Pacheco with quick combinations before zipping away. While Pacheco’s punches landed with greater impact, Brady’s were more numerous. When the bell rang, Brady continued to jab the air in front of Pacheco’s face, which nearly set off a heated attack until ref Al Martinez stepped in.

“Keep it clean guys,” he told them—words that would go unheeded.

Round Three was much closer than the second. While Brady continued to outbox, the always-aggressive Pacheco was beginning to land solid left hooks up and downstairs, turning this into a serious fight.

Brady’s counterpunching and outside-boxing strategies continued to work through the fourth round, but Panda was finding ways to cut off the ring now. When in close, Brady would tie up, until the ref would break up, and later, warn Brady about. But for now, Brady’s strategy was working, giving him a three rounds to one lead.

Pacheco loaded up on body shots in the fifth round, taking the round and slowing down Brady. The first sign that this fight was turning around was a left hook Pacheco buried in Brady’s rib; the body shot had Brady grunting and nearly stumbling. But when Pacheco moved in for another taste of ribs and liver, Brady countered beautifully with straight lefts and jabs that got Pacheco’s attention—it wasn’t enough to steal the round.

Round Six was a repeat: Brady’s body battered by Panda with the Assassin trying to sneak in a steal at the end of the round with an aggressive counter-attack.

After six, I had it dead even: three rounds each. This was the point, though, that most of us figured Pacheco would start to wilt while Brady picked up the pace to cruise home to a decision.

We were wrong.

Brady surprised everybody with a forceful attack on Pacheco early in the seventh round. Hurling right hooks and short lefts, Brady drove Panda back against the ropes. When Pacheco regained composure and reversed the assault, Brady tied up, losing his mouthpiece—for the fourth time so far. This time, though, ref Martinez deducted a point.

Pacheco’s camp said later that he was spitting out his mouthpiece when hurt, but Brady’s camp maintained the problem was due to the cheap, last-minute mouthpiece purchased from a local sporting goods store (which it was.) Brady’s normal, custom-made mouthpiece had mistakenly been left behind in Albuquerque.

Cheap mouthpiece or cheap tactics, Brady was not able to win that round.

When the fight resumed, Brady threw low and Pacheco took a knee for a brief rest. Brady was warned and when the fight continued yet again, Pacheco launched an attack that had drove Brady back. Near the round’s conclusion, Brady finished strong, making it a 9-9 round with the point deduction.

Round Eight was a dirty round—but a good round for Brady who countered Panda with a straight left hand, sending him tumbling into the neutral corner. It was the first time Pacheco had been down in his career, but he got up shaking his head in disgust.

Unhurt, Pacheco returned fire with such gusto that he had Brady on strict defense. Brady tied up and when the ref tried to break the clinch, things got ugly. Brady unleashed a left hand, which prompted Pacheco to unpack half a dozen power punches, jamming the Assassin to the ropes until Martinez could wiggle in between the two.

Screaming for order and trying to break up the action, Brady scooted out of the oven with a sprint toward his corner.

Just as the fight in the ring was momentarily halted, a huge fight in the crowd erupted, presumably between Brady and Panda fans.  While security tried to find order, the fight in the ring resumed, with Pacheco as aggressive and angry as ever, finishing strong and hurting Brady at the end of the round with a solid straight right hand that had Brady clinging to Pacheco like a long lost lover.

What should’ve been a 10-8 round for Brady, I now had 10-9. If it had gone another five seconds, Brady would’ve hit canvas.

Panda had a less eventful 9^th round and Brady was able to outhustle him on hit-and-run mode.

But in the 10^th, Brady fell apart.

Brady came out looking dead tired while Pacheco still looked relatively fresh, despite never having been past six rounds. Once again, Pacheco went to work, hammering Brady to the body at every opportunity until, late in the round, Brady fell to his knees.

It was the second time in his career he’d been down—and before the fight would be over, it would not be the last.

With his body bruised and battered, Brady showed tremendous heart, throwing himself right at Pacheco, countering him toe-to-toe in one of the fight’s best exchanges. It didn’t change the 10-8 round Pacheco had coming, but it showed Brady’s mettle.

Round Eleven was yet another bizarre round.

It was Pacheco’s fight now. His body attacks had slowed Brady down and tired out the Assassin; and his punches were hurting while Brady’s shots lacked Panda’s pop.

While Pacheco banged away at his midsection, Brady hit the canvas again in what might’ve been a slip. Slip or no slip, kneeling on the canvas, Brady looked beaten and referee Martinez signaled the fight over.

Immediately, the crowd screamed their approval and Panda’s people invaded the ring, arms pumping victory, to lift the new champion into the air . . . .

But it wasn’t over.

The referee had erringly signaled the “not a knockdown” motion too high, making it look like he was calling the fight over. Immediately, Martinez started to hustle camps out of the ring, to everyone’s confusion, to get the fight going again.

For the duration of the round, Brady sought to outpoint Pacheco, but he could not stem the tide.

Things were not looking good for Brady. Going into the 12^th and final round, I had Pacheco ahead two points—the general consensus ringside was that Brady needed a knockout to win.

Brady dug himself into a deeper hole when early in the 12^th, he lost his mouthpiece yet again. The price was another one point deduction.

Now desperate, Brady threw himself at Pacheco. While both fighters were visibly fatigued, Brady looked like the walking dead—yet he still managed to launch an amazing last-chance assault on Panda, hurling several Hail-Mary punches at a retreating Panda. Some landed clean, some were a mile away—and all zapped the remaining strength from Joseph Brady.

Panda’s expression changed and he flipped the momentum. Having weathered Brady’s final storm, he moved in for the kill, unleashing an attack that included a deadly left hook-part-uppercut to the liver that dropped Brady to the canvas.

This time, Brady would not get back up until the fight was over—and this time the fight was over. At 2:47 of the 12^th round, Martinez asked Brady if he could continue. When he had his answer, he declared Pacheco winner by TKO.

Going into the 12^th, two judges had it for Pacheco, 107-101 (Cordelia Sanchez) and 105-101 (Levi Martinez); the third (Esther Lopez) had it for Brady, 104-103. I had it for Pacheco, 106-103. Had Brady stood up and survived the 12^th, he would still have lost the fight with a 10-7 round, with the extra point for losing his mouthpiece.

In his 13^th fight, and with just 13 seconds left on the clock, Andres Pacheco, still undefeated, was named the new WBC Fecarbox junior middleweight champion.

“I feel good,” Panda said afterward, smiling ear to ear. “I worked hard for this.”

The Pacheco camp said that Andres had dedicated this fight to his father, Pedro, who’d passed away last year from a heart attack. Ironically, he’d been slated to fight Brady in Albuquerque when Pedro Pacheco passed away, forcing him to pull out of the fight.

“This one’s for Pedro Pacheco!” yelled members of his team.

Pacheco said that he knew he would eventually wear down Brady with body shots.

“I just had to stick to my plan,” he said after the fight. “I knew it was the way to go. “

Despite the flash knockdown, Pacheco said he felt fresh during the fight and that he’d never been hurt.

“He doesn’t hit hard at all. He never hurt me.”

While Joseph Brady was not available for comment, his trainer, Jake Valencia, came out of his room to talk.

“Just not a good night,” said Valencia, who admits he had Pacheco ahead going into the final two rounds. “I told Brady we needed a knockout to win . . . but he was spent. When he went down at the end, I told him not to get up. That was me—not him. I guess it just wasn’t our night.

“We knew it was going to be a tough fight going in. Both fighters are one hell of an athlete. But things happen . . . the ref didn’t let us fight our fight and we were worried about losing by DQ and that threw us off our plan.”

As far as a rematch? Valencia will consider it, but it would have to be on neutral ground next time.

Ironically, it is in defeat that Brady (now 13-1, 6 KOs) has shown us his worth. If the enormous heart he showed in the fight can now applied to training in the gym for a comeback, it’s guaranteed that we’ll soon see the return of a stronger, tougher Brady.

As for Pacheco, who rises to 13-0 (9 KOs), from what he showed, this guy’s ready to take on any top 10 regional-rated fighter in the junior middleweight division—even other undefeated fighters like Paul Williams and Yuri Foreman.

ESPN and Shobox take note! Panda is ready for the big boys.

Hernandez hammers Mueller

It wasn’t the greatest night for trainer Jake Valencia, who had to suffer through not only Joseph Brady’s first pro loss but the pro debut of his pupil Paul Mueller.

On paper, Mueller should’ve coasted to a decision over 0-0-1 Martin Hernandez, both from Albuquerque. With several state Golden Gloves titles and 35 amateur fights, Mueller’s background dwarfed Martinez, who’s had but one pro fight (taken on 24 hours notice, a draw with Earl Large and, possibly, the most uneventful, dull fight in New Mexico this year) and a couple unsanctioned Toughman-style brawls. Hernandez has also picked up a rep for never  showing up to train while Mueller has been in the gym consistently as one of Brady’s sparring partners.

But sometimes, skill and dedication has little to do with.

Sometimes, all it takes is an iron pair of cohones and an eagerness to brawl to spell out a winner.

Mueller fell apart early. Trying to set up his right behind a jab only earned him a couple whacks from an eager Hernandez. Halfway through the round, Hernandez blasted through Mueller’s weak defense with a right hand that put him down. Mueller made the count and he looking shellshocked, spent the rest of the round in dire defense.

By the second round, Mueller was gushing blood out of his nose but he showed guts trying to re-establish his game plan against Hernandez. A couple right hands landed solidly for Mueller but Hernandez still nabbed the round with his aggressive stalking and wild right hands.

Round Three was a bit slower paced but, once again, it was mostly Hernandez and his battering right hands winning the round. Mueller got in a couple beautiful right hands, but Hernandez took them well, grinning as he came forward.

Mueller looked like he’d been through a meat grinder by the end of the fourth round. After another round dominated by Hernandez, his face was plastered with fresh blood and his left eye, purple and completely closed.

All three judges had it for Hernandez: 40-33, 40-34 and 40-35. I had it 40-34.